Document delivery method and system with automated printing and enveloping

ABSTRACT

In a document delivery method and system, a sending computer is adapted to be operated by a sending party to send out an electronic document. A receiving unit, which is situated at a mail delivery service provider, is operable so as to establish a network connection with the sending computer so as to receive the electronic document therefrom. A printing unit is coupled to the receiving unit, receives the electronic document from the receiving unit, and makes a printed document that corresponds to the electronic document. An enveloping unit is operable so as to wrap the printed document in enveloping material. A conveying unit, which is disposed between the printing unit and the enveloping unit, is responsible for conveying the printed document from the printing unit to the enveloping unit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The invention relates to a document delivery method and system, more particularly to a document delivery method and system that involves automated printing and enveloping.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Currently, there exist many problems, such as lack of security, software language incompatibility, file size limitations, lack of message receipt notification, etc., which discourage the use of electronic mail for message transmission. As such, documents, which are unsuitable for transmission as electronic mail, are still being handled in printed form. In the conventional method of delivering printed documents, a sending party initially has to make a printed copy of an electronic document stored in a data storage medium that is accessed by a personal computer. The printed document is then placed in an envelope, either in a manual or automated manner, before being sent to a post office or mail courier who is responsible for sending the same to the intended mail recipient. It is evident that the aforesaid conventional delivery method is laborious, involves numerous tasks, and is not cost effective.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a document delivery method and system that includes automated printing and enveloping to reduce manpower involvement and to lower delivery costs. According to one aspect of the invention, a document delivery system comprises:

[0006] a sending computer adapted to be operated by a sending party to send out an electronic document;

[0007] a receiving unit operable so as to establish a network connection with the sending computer so as to receive the electronic document therefrom;

[0008] a printing unit coupled to the receiving unit so as to receive the electronic document therefrom, the printing unit being operable so as to make a printed document that corresponds to the electronic document;

[0009] an enveloping unit operable so as to wrap the printed document in enveloping material; and

[0010] a conveying unit, disposed between the printing unit and the enveloping unit, for conveying the printed document from the printing unit to the enveloping unit.

[0011] According to another aspect of the invention, a document delivery method comprises the steps of:

[0012] via a sending computer that is under the control of a sending party, creating an electronic document, and establishing a network connection with a receiving unit situated at a mail delivery service provider so as to transmit the electronic document from the sending computer to the receiving unit;

[0013] printing the electronic document received by the receiving unit so as to make a printed document; and

[0014] automatically conveying the printed document to an enveloping unit so as to commence automated wrapping of the printed document in enveloping material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

[0016]FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the document delivery system of this invention;

[0017]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a printing and enveloping apparatus of the document delivery system of this invention; and

[0018]FIG. 3 illustrates an enveloping process of the apparatus of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, in the document delivery system of this invention, a sending computer 1, such as a personal computer (PC), is adapted to be operated by a sending party so as to create and edit an electronic document. The sending computer 1 is then operated by the sending party to establish an Internet connection 2 with a mail delivery service provider 3, such as a post office, mail courier or company mail room, to transmit the electronic document in a format that complies with one of the FTP and HTTP protocols. The mail delivery service provider 3 is provided with a receiving unit 4 to receive the electronic document. The receiving unit 4 provides the electronic document to a printing unit 5, which is responsible for making a printed copy of the electronic document (hereinafter referred to as printed document 9). In one embodiment, the receiving unit 4 is a receiving computer, and the printing unit 5 is a computer printer coupled to the receiving computer. In another embodiment, the receiving and printing units 4, 5 are jointly implemented in a facsimile machine.

[0020] A conveying unit 6 is vertically disposed between the printing unit 5 and an enveloping unit 7, and is responsible for conveying the printed document 9 from the printing unit 5 to the enveloping unit 7. The conveying unit 6 includes a casing 61 having a document inlet side adjacent to the printing unit 5and a document outlet side adjacent to the enveloping unit 7, and a guide plate 62 disposed in the casing 61 and extending between the document inlet and document outlet sides. Upper and lower sensors 63, 63′ are mounted in the casing 61 adjacent to the guide plate 62. A drive device 64, which includes rollers 642, 643 driven rotatably by a motor 641, is disposed on in the casing 61 on one side of the guide plate 62. A press device, in the form of press plates 65, is disposed in the casing 61 and is adapted to press the printed document 9 against the drive device 64. Thus, when the upper sensor 63 detects that the printed document 9 has entered into the document inlet side of the casing 61, the motor 641 is activated to drive rotation of the rollers 642, 643, thereby guiding the printed document 9 to move along the guide plate 62 from the document inlet side to the document outlet side. The motor 641 is deactivated to stop rotation of the rollers 642, 643 when the sensors 63, 63′ cease to detect the printed document 9, indicating that the printed document 9 has exited the document outlet side of the casing 61.

[0021] The enveloping unit 7, which is disposed at a lower end of the conveying unit 6, is responsible for wrapping the printed document 9 from the conveying unit 6 in enveloping material 781. The enveloping unit 7 includes a horizontally extending document feed slot 72 having a bottom portion formed with a blade port 74, and a feed roller set 71 disposed at one end of the document feed slot 72 for guiding the printed document 9 from the conveying unit 6 into the document feed slot 72. A vertically movable folding blade 73 is disposed above the document feed slot 72, and is aligned vertically with the blade port 74. Two rolls 78 of plastic enveloping material 781 are disposed below the document feed slot 72. The enveloping unit 7 further includes a heating wire 75 and a welding jaw 76 disposed below the document feed slot 72 on opposite sides of the blade port 74, and a vertical seal forming set 77 disposed below the heating wire 75 and the welding jaw 76. The ends of the enveloping material 781 taken from the two rolls 78 are welded together to form a horizontal seam that is located below the blade port 74 and above the heating wire 75 and the welding jaw 76.

[0022] In operation, the feed roller set 71 guides the printed document 9 from the conveying unit 6 into the document feed slot 72. When an intermediate part of the printed document 9 is aligned with the blade port 74, the folding blade 73 is moved downwardly to engage the printed document 9 and to force the printed document 9 to pass through the blade port 74. The printed document 9 is folded as it passes through the blade port 74, and is forced into abutment with the enveloping material 781 fed by the rolls 78 to cover opposite sides of the printed document 9. Top edges of the enveloping material 781 that covers the printed document 9 are welded by means of the heating wire 75 and the welding jaw 76, whereas vertical edges of the same are welded by the vertical seal forming set 77, thereby enclosing the printed document 9 in an envelope.

[0023] A document box 8 is disposed below the enveloping unit 7 to collect the enveloped document 9 that drops from the latter. A plunger mechanism 83 is disposed in the document box 8, and includes a press plate 81 and an arm device 82. The plunger mechanism 83 pushes the enveloped document 9 towards one side of the document box 8.

[0024] The enveloped documents 9 collected in the document box 8 are eventually retrieved by an employee of the mail delivery service provider 3 for subsequent hand-delivery to their intended mail recipients.

[0025] It has thus been shown that the document delivery method and system of this invention eliminates the need for the sending party to make a printed copy of the electronic document, and to send the printed document to a post office or mail courier, thereby resulting in reduced manpower involvement, lower delivery costs and shorter delivery time so as to increase the document delivery efficiency.

[0026] While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements. 

We claim:
 1. A document delivery system, comprising: a sending computer adapted to be operated by a sending party to send out an electronic document; a receiving unit operable so as to establish a network connection with said sending computer so as to receive the electronic document therefrom; a printing unit coupled to said receiving unit so as to receive the electronic document therefrom, said printing unit being operable so as to make a printed document that corresponds to the electronic document; an enveloping unit operable so as to wrap the printed document in enveloping material; and a conveying unit, disposed between said printing unit and said enveloping unit, for conveying the printed document from said printing unit to said enveloping unit.
 2. The document delivery system of claim 1, wherein said sending computer sends out the electronic document in a format that complies with FTP protocol.
 3. The document delivery system of claim 1, wherein said sending computer sends out the electronic document in a format that complies with HTTP protocol.
 4. The document delivery system of claim 1, wherein said receiving unit is situated at a mail delivery service provider.
 5. The document delivery system of claim 1, wherein said receiving unit includes a receiving computer.
 6. The document delivery system of claim 5, wherein said printing unit includes a computer printer.
 7. The document delivery system of claim 1, wherein said receiving unit and said printing unit are jointly implemented in a facsimile machine.
 8. The document delivery system of claim 1, wherein said conveying unit includes: a casing having a document inlet side adjacent to said printing unit, and a document outlet side adjacent to said enveloping unit; a guide plate disposed in said casing and extending between said document inlet side and said document outlet side; a drive device disposed in said casing and operable so as to move the printed document along said guide plate from said document inlet side to said document outlet side; and a sensing device coupled to said drive device for activating said drive device upon detecting that the printed document has entered into said document inlet side, and for deactivating said drive device upon detecting that the printed document has exited said document outlet side of said casing.
 9. The document delivery system of claim 8, wherein said drive device includes a roller set, and a motor for driving rotatably said roller set.
 10. The document delivery system of claim 8, wherein said conveying unit further includes a press plate disposed in said casing and adapted to press the printed document against said drive device.
 11. The document delivery system of claim 1, wherein said enveloping unit includes: a horizontally extending document feed slot having a bottom portion formed with a blade port; a feed roller set disposed at one end of said document feed slot for guiding the printed document from said conveying unit into said document feed slot; a vertically movable folding blade disposed above said document feed slot and aligned vertically with said blade port, said folding blade being movable downwardly to engage the printed document and to force the printed document to pass through said blade port, thereby folding the printed document as the printed document passes through said blade port; a roll unit disposed below said document feed slot and operative so as to feed the enveloping material for covering opposite sides of the printed document that passes through said blade port; and seal forming means operable so as to weld edges of the enveloping material that wraps the printed document, thereby enclosing the printed document in an envelope.
 12. The document delivery system of claim 1, further comprising a document box for collecting the printed document from said enveloping unit.
 13. The document delivery system of claim 12, further comprising a plunger mechanism disposed in said document box and operable so as to push the printed document toward one side of said document box.
 13. A document delivery method, comprising the steps of: via a sending computer that is under the control of a sending party, creating an electronic document, and establishing a network connection with a receiving unit situated at a mail delivery service provider so as to transmit the electronic document from the sending computer to the receiving unit; printing the electronic document received by the receiving unit so as to make a printed document; and automatically conveying the printed document to an enveloping unit so as to commence automated wrapping of the printed document in enveloping material.
 15. The document delivery method of claim 14, wherein the sending computer transmits the electronic document to the receiving unit in a format that complies with one of the FTP and HTTP protocols.
 16. The document delivery method of claim 14, further comprising the step of collecting enveloped documents from the enveloping unit, and delivering the enveloped documents to intended mail recipients. 